Report: Rural hospitals are not meeting requirement

Removing from benefits would save millions

10:11 AM,
Sep. 14, 2013

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The nation's smallest hospitals receive extra Medicare dollars and avoid penalties faced by their larger counterparts because they are located in rural areas too far from other hospitals.

But a report released last month showed two-thirds of those hospitals are too close to other hospitals to warrant the designation - and benefits - of a "critical access hospital." Eliminating them from the rolls would have saved taxpayers about $449 million in 2011, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Inspector General's Office report.